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Gonzaga Basketball

Top nine spots remain the same in latest AP poll

By Jim Meehan jimm@spokesman.com(509) 459-5585

So much for all the upsets and parity that marked the first few months of the college basketball season.

The top 10 in the AP poll hasn’t changed much in the last few weeks. No. 1 Baylor and No. 2 Gonzaga remained in place for the fourth straight week in Monday’s rankings. There was no movement in the first nine spots.

There was barely any change in the voting totals. Baylor (21-1) received 48 first-place votes, losing one from last week, and 1,584 points. The Zags (25-1) received 15 first-place votes for the second straight week and 1,546 points.

Gonzaga gained three points on the Bears after clobbering Saint Mary’s 90-60 on Saturday and Loyola Marymount 85-67 on Thursday. Baylor defeated Kansas State and Oklahoma State.

The Zags visit Pepperdine in Malibu, California, on Saturday. GU won the first meeting 75-70 in Spokane. Baylor faces Texas tonight and entertains No. 14 West Virginia on Saturday.

Kansas, San Diego State, Louisville, Dayton, Duke, Florida State and Maryland stayed in place from No. 3 through No. 9. Seton Hall jumped up two spots to No. 10 after knocking off Villanova, which dropped five spots to 15.

BYU, second in the WCC with an 8-3 record, received 43 points, fourth in the receiving votes category.

Michigan State became the first preseason No. 1 to fall out of the poll since Kentucky in 2013-14.

There was some movement in the NET rankings, one of the tools used by the NCAA Tournament selection committee. San Diego State remained No. 1, but Gonzaga replaced Baylor at No. 2. The Bears are third, followed by Kansas and Dayton.

BYU is No. 23 and Saint Mary’s, No. 33 before facing the Zags, slipped to No. 39. The WCC has seven teams in the top 130, including San Francisco (103), Santa Clara (111), Pacific (118) and Pepperdine (130).

Gonzaga made up some ground in the USA Today poll. No. 1 Baylor’s lead slipped from 15 points to 10 over the Zags, who took one first-place vote away from the Bears.

BYU received 17 points and Saint Mary’s seven.

CBS Sports’ Jerry Palm’s bracket projection has the Zags facing South Dakota State in the first round in Spokane. Gonzaga handled the Jackrabbits 66-46 in the first round of the 2017 NCAA Tournament.

Palm has Maryland as the second seed in the West, followed by West Virginia, Villanova, Oregon and Arizona. The Zags defeated the Ducks and Wildcats earlier this season.

Saint Mary’s and BYU are nine seeds, according to Palm.